Blogs

1. Compared to writing traditional essays as you have in other classes, were the expectations of the blog assignment easier, harder or just different? In other words, was it clear to you what the format of a blog was and how to produce one?


Writing traditional essays in class were lame and you had to do brainstorming and different drafts and set them up very carefully. With these blog assignments its basically just writing down your ideas and typing from your head and do some research to get your facts straight then go back do a little editing and spell check and there your blog I think it was easy seat up and wasn’t so stress full to just sit down and type ideas.


2. Did the blog assignments, and the requirement to create a blog, relate to the class topics and course objectives? Why or why not?

Blog assignments and the requirements to create a blog in my opinion did relate to are course objectives. Blogging is new thing now were people can get their ideas out or be heard about a particular thing or object to something they don’t agree with then people can attach themselves to your blog and make it a stronger argument or discussion. Also the topics that we were giving applied to the course objectives and gave us a chance to express what a thoughts were and to design our own blogs any way we wanted to for most of us it was our first time, and now I understand what blogging is and how it can be used.

3. Did the non-text elements of the blog program contribute to your learning in this class? Did they get in the way? Or did they have no affect at all?

The none text elements did contribute to me at least I wasn’t real used to the computer never had one of my own till this past year and wasn’t to familiar to things you could do with the internet and the computer and now with this blogger.com and ways to research I can get my thought out and read other peoples different perspectives on anything almost.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Should students be able to cite "wikis," databases like Wikipedia which depend on the "wisdom of crowds," in their schoolwork? Why or why not?


In my opinion Wikipedia is a well known cite that you can get a lot of good information from. Wikis database is created by others information that is put in many. You yourself could put in a page of anything you would like, even yourself if you wanted. This cite in my opinion has a lot of good material that will help you get a better understanding of a topic and will give you information that you may not have known, but to cite Wikipedia as one of your references probably wouldn’t be such a good idea.
For example there are many people that like to mess with the system like I stated before people can write whatever they wanted even if it is already created. If I went into Wikipedia at this point in time and looked up York shire terrier dogs or yorkie for short for example I could say they were the largest breeds of dogs in the world. Which in fact there one of the smallest dogs of course someone would eventually look over it and fix it but within that time period of time that is was false you could of read over it and could of got wrong information.
Most of the information on there is correct from people see errors and correct them. For a student to use this wed cite and use this as a reference would not be a very good idea in my opinion cause previously stated reasons but to use just to get a fast and better explanation about the topic Wikipedia is a good cite to look over. Just make sure the information is right with other research maybe Google yahoo or ask .com are other examples of search engines you can use that people created that cannot be written over. So over all I would say no Wikipedia is not a good wed cite to use as a reference on a students work.

Why are so many people the uncomfortable with the idea that many problems don’t have a single solution?

People seem to think that “It’s my way or the highway”, But in reality there are several different ways of doing a task. People are uncomfortable with the idea that many problems don't have a single solution. There are out of the box thinkers that see many different ways of solving a problem but even there way could be the same or different as another.

In my line of work there are many solutions to a problem and I think it’s good to learn the different ways to do the job from other people, “tricks of the trade” then in time modify your own methods of working. It’s what makes us unique.

People uncomfortable with the idea that many problems don't have a single solution, for example I am an intern at the mine in Bagdad I work in the shop on the heavy equipment. Now there is senior techs and people that been there for 20 years or more. There is new technology to do the job but some older stubborn techs still use the same technique they used back when they started. They refuse the fact that there is other ways, Even if there is another easier way to do the job or another solution.

So people feeling uncomfortable about a certain solution is not uncommon many people have a certain comfort zone they don’t like crossing some don’t like it cause its new and they believe the old way better and don’t want to mess with a new way or try something new. Me for example all of my friends use T9 word for my entry mode for my text messaging, I use Abc word Even if T9 word is a lot easier than Abc word and faster I always used Abc word and am going to continue using it. After using it for so long I think I can use it faster than most people can use T9.

There could be many different reasons people are uncomfortable with the idea that many problems don't have a single solution. Tradition, stubbornness, comfort zones, one thing’s for sure everyone is going to have their own way of doing something that’s what makes us who we are and there is always going to be the conflict of who’s way is better that’s what keeps life and technology growing.

Does technology make us smarter or dumber?

Does technology make us smarter or dumber?


Technology today is getting more high tech and also allows a certain task to become super fast and easy. With computers today you can do some of the most complex tasks in seconds. Computers now basically tell you each step into doing a certain task without you even knowing how. Just enter what the computer tells you to and there you are, computer doing everything for you. For example taxes “turbo tax” enter what it says and hit submit without even thinking about what exactly it is doing. At the same time you have access to anything you want to know “ask” “Wikipedia” that tells you how things work but computers makes things so easy why go that way and them we become lazy and don’t get as much knowledge as we could if we were to experience it for ourselves.
Another way technology is making us dumber is a device that fits right into our hand. Everyone has one now days and it is becoming a need in our fast living style. CELL PHONES! Not to be a hypocrite I love mine I don’t know what I would do without it, but me personally was never a good speller and probably will never be. One thing is sure though I can sure text well. All the acronyms that are used in texting like, IDK or LOL, shorts everything to make it faster I sometimes catch myself writing it in my papers as well. Those are not too bad but then it gets to shorting words like y for why and u for you and it gets to where you don’t even realize that you are spelling it wrong text don’t have no spell check so making a word sound like the one you are saying is just as good until you have to write something that needs the correct spelling.
There is a good side though technology has become more advanced for what it used to be in the old days. We have to know more about the new things that come out as evolution progresses. School has become harder and we must learn about new things added on. Technology has made us lazy though if we don’t know the answer a computer will. If we have no desire to learn for ourselves then we will let a piece of technology do it for us which is making us have less knowledge about what we are expected to know. That makes us dumber or at least appear that way.

largest snake?

Whats the largest rattle snake ever recorded? I found a 5 and a half foot long one at coors lake in bagdad, arizona.